Dirty School Buses, Sick Kids

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CreditMarta Monteiro

By Joshua M. Sharfstein and Frances Phillips

Jan. 8, 2016

AS former state public health officials in Maryland, we were quite embarrassed and angry to learn that we had been driving around in little pollution factories, otherwise known as Volkswagen diesels. At the same time, we understand that the car owners are not the only victims of the company’s deceptions. To make right by the environment and those harmed by air pollution, Volkswagen should stop sending us apologies — and should start replacing thousands of old school buses across the country.

As with the polluting cars, old school buses run on diesel fuel and emit a toxic mix of gases, including the nitrogen oxides associated with asthma, exacerbations of lung disease, and premature death. That’s where the idea of replacing old school buses comes in. Volkswagen faces potentially $20 billion in fines under the Clean Air Act in a lawsuit filed by the Environmental Protection Agency (not to mention potential liability in lawsuits brought by various states). Directing a portion of these resources into cleaning up the machines that take our children to and from school every day would help make matters right.

In addition to polluting the air, the diesel exhaust seeps into the bus cabin, directly sickening children. A California study published in 2001 found that the level of diesel exhaust in old school buses was up to four times greater than in cars, and up to eight times greater than the statewide average air level. According to the E.P.A., “older, more polluting school buses can lead to significant health risks for students who typically ride these buses for one-half to two hours a day.”

Replace these buses, and children’s health improves. In a study published last June, researchers at the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin reported finding that having cleaner air on school buses led to improved lung capacity and substantial reductions in absenteeism, particularly among children with asthma.

By replacing old school buses, in addition to fixing the affected cars, Volkswagen can make up for the damage it did to the environment and improve the lives of many thousands of children in the process. Eventually, the company would be able to say that its net impact on air pollution in the United States, at least as measured by nitrogen oxides, was actually negative.

With help from Kirsten Koehler, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, we did the math. In September, the E.P.A. directed Volkswagen to recall around 480,000 polluting diesel cars, each of which produces roughly between 10 and 40 times more nitrogen oxides than allowed. The cumulative impact of the Volkswagen deception has been estimated at about 46,000 tons since 2008.

We estimate there are about 250,000 school buses still on the road that were manufactured before stringent emissions regulations took effect in 2007. Using the E.P.A.’s diesel emissions quantifier, we calculated that replacing one in 10 of these buses, a total of 25,000, would save about 5,000 excess tons of pollution in the first year, and the benefits would continue as long as the buses were on the road. In fact, replacing 25,000 old school buses would eventually make up for the cumulative total of 46,000 excess tons of nitrogen oxides from the polluting Volkswagens.

With a new school bus costing about $80,000, this bus-replacement effort would run Volkswagen about $2 billion, around 10 percent of its potential federal liability. We would welcome the company’s replacing even more old buses.

With authorization from Congress, the company could simply write a check to the E.P.A., which already runs a program under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act that helps local governments retrofit or upgrade their fleets. This program is in desperate need of greater investment. The E.P.A. recently announced just over $7 million in grants to fix or replace buses in 85 localities, a small fraction of the applications. The program has the capacity to give out much more to support school districts across the country.

Because of the diffuse nature of environmental pollution, it’s hard to point to a specific individual and conclude that a Volkswagen car caused his or her asthma attack. But it wouldn’t be hard to find thousands of schoolchildren who would benefit from new school buses. As the air pollution expert Dr. Robert J. Laumbach of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey recently wrote, “Efforts to clean up diesel engine emissions from school buses are likely to have tremendous societal benefits.”

Linking the Volkswagen scandal to the replacement of old school buses would also make the larger point that there are opportunities all around us to clean up our air and protect our health.

As owners of diesel-powered VW’s, we’re not looking for big payouts. But we do care about justice. Volkswagen’s global chief is expected to meet with top E.P.A. officials next week to discuss the recall of the diesel vehicles built with software to evade emissions tests. Perhaps the agency can add our proposal to the topics up for discussion.

If Volkswagen doesn’t step up voluntarily and accept the corporate responsibility that fits the evidence, forcing the company to pay to replace a large number of old school buses strikes us as a punishment that fits the crime.

Joshua M. Sharfstein is associate dean for public health practice and training, and Frances Phillips is an associate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.